Burglar hits Jeffco neighborhood while residents are at home

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JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. -- “I come from a day when we left our doors open, we left our keys in our cars,” said Thomas Reynolds, who was sleeping inside his home – along with his wife and two children, when a cat burglar snuck inside over the weekend and made off with his wife’s purse.

“It’s just not that age anymore,” said Reynolds. “I will be locking my doors and windows from now on.”

Reynolds’s home was one of four targets hit in a small area of Jefferson County near Bowles Street, where a thief made off with jewelry, electronics, and cash.

Most of the burglaries were crimes of opportunity, investigators tell us. Homeowners are now being warned to lock their doors, windows, and garages.

“Several of the people were asleep inside their homes and maybe heard their dog bark, but didn’t get up,” said Mark Techmeyer of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.

“One victim was in the shower,” he added.

The suspect jumped fences into backyards looking for unlocked doors. Investigators say when he found one, he went inside and made off with whatever he could get.

“We moved into this neighborhood a couple of years ago… It was supposed to be a safe neighborhood,” said Edward Sacco a neighbor.

If you have any information on these incidents, you’re asked to call the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office at 303-277-0211.